Holder for thread and the like



T. J. LiNEBACK.

HOLDER FOR THREAD AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1. 1920.

1 ,363,255. Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

UNITED TBS THOMAS J. LINEBACK, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

HOLDER FOR THREAD AND THE LIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1920.

Application filed April 1, 1920. Serial No. 370,559.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. LINEBACK, a citizen of the United States of America, a resident of the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Holders for Thread and the like, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a art of this specification.

y invention has for its object the prevention of accidental unwinding of coils of thread and the like. Ordinarily a thread winding having a free end, when suspended has a tendency to allow the free end to'unwind itself and become tangled. The preferred form of my device allows the free un winding of the thread for a distance of a half coil only. lVhen the thread is to be unwound more than a half coil, a pull in addition to the weight of the free end itself is necessary. This additional pull is furnished by the needle actuating device or other mechanism with which the thread is connected, or by a manual pull.

My device is self-feeding as the body of thread is unwound and diminishes in diameter, and will always remain in position to perform its function. The downward action of gravity alone is suflicient to operate the feeding means so that it will bear constantly against the thread and prevent free unwinding. Another object of my invention is to provide a means easily and quickly operable for releasing a tubular thread holder from its support. I

Figure I is a vertical section showing the new device.

Fig. II is a side elevation of I taken at right angles thereto.

Fig.1 III is a plan view looking downupon Fi I n The center attaching member of my device is formed of a wire looped at 1 to forman eye which merges into outwardly extendmg arms 2 and 3, one at each, side of the eye. These arms are bent upwardly at 4c and 5 perpendicular to the direction of the arms 2 and 3 and are then bent perpendicular to the portions 4 and 5 into horizontally extending hinge pintles 6 and 7, one on each side of the eye and parallel to each other. The pintles are bent downwardly at their ends at right angles thereto into portions 8 and 9, each adapted to fit within and frictionally enga e thetubular core 0 of the coiled thread The portions 8Zand 9 are then united at 10 so as to create an outward spring action when the portlons 8 and 9 are forced against the inside of the top of the core. Beyond the uncture 10 the portions are sprung outwardly at 11 and 12 into arms for frictionally engaging the bottom of the inner wall of the core and having their tips 13 and 14: bent at an angle to provide a support for the core. Loosely hinged to the eye 1 is a suspension hook 15 for suspending the core and thread restraining elements.

Hinged to the pintles 6 and 7 so as to move past each other are connecting arm members 16 and 17, which are hinged at their outer ends 18 and 19 respectively to vertical restraining members, preferably in the form of bars 20 and 21, each having a vertical slot 22 therein at the upper end. These slots extend downwardly of said bars and form guideways wherein arms 16 and 17 are insorted to retain the bars in upright positions while they move toward the axis of the coiled thread.

The dotted lines of Fig. I show the restraining bars in positions they occupy at the beginning of the unwinding operation. The full lines of Fig. I show a position the device assumes as'the thread becomes used. The weight of the bars 20 and 21, plus the weight of their connecting arms 16 and 17 is suflicient to keep the bars bearing constantly against the thread. Therefore, as the thread is gradually unwound from the core, the bars will move downwardly'and inwardly so as to remain in contact with the outer coils of thread and prevent the free thread from unwinding of its own weight.

The inner sides of the bars may be provided with brush-like material, plush, or the like, 23, in order to make a better contact between the bars and thread.

A releasing means 24 is hung over the portions 11 and 12 of the attaching part within the core and releases the core from its supports 13 and I L-by a downward pull upon the releasing means. This downward pull draws the two outwardly sprung portions 11 and 12 toward each other and out of contact with the core.

It is to be noted that the bars 20 and 21 are not hinged to the core supporting means coaxially with the core and the suspension eye 1, but are pivoted at opposite sides thereof as shown at 6 and 7, so the restraining members 20 and 21 tending to drop by gravity, will remain in contact with the thread until all of the coils are unwound from the core. It is important to observe that the elongated thread engaging elements of the restraining bars 21 and 22 are parallel with the axis of the coiled thread, and these bars are preferably longer than the body of thread so as to cofiperate with all of the coils during the entire unwinding operation. As the thread unwinds from the core, the exposed coils become smaller in diameter, and the restraining bars drop by gravity so as to move transversely of the coils while they gradually approach the axis of the coils, but owing to the manner in which these bars are supported and guided, they are retained in parallelism with the axis of the coils.

Though two bars are shown, one on each side of the core, it is not essential that both bars be used, as the device will function with but a single bar and its connecting arm. The fonlyadvantage of using two bars instead of one is that in the former the thread will be allowed to unwind only one-half of the circumferential length while with the latter it may unwind a whole circumferential len th.

claim:

1. In a device for yieldingly holding coils of thread and the like, a support whereby the body of thread is held in an upright position, an upright restraining member having an elongated thread engaging friction face adapted to yieldingly engage the coils to prevent them from dropping by gravity, and means whereby the thread-engaging portion of said restraining member is retainedfin parallelism with the axis of the coils, said means including a pivotal support for said restraining member allowing the force of gravity to retain said restraining member in contact with the coils.

2. In a device for yieldingly holding coils of thread and the like, a restraining member adapted to engage the coils to prevent accidental unwinding thereof, and a support whereby said restraining member is held in yielding contact with the coils, said support including a pivotally mounted connecting member and a pivot whereby said connect-' ing member is secured to said restraining member, so as to allow the latter to drop by gravity in response to the operation of unwindingthe coils.

. ,8. In a device for yieldingly holding coils of thread andthe like, a restraining member adapted to engage the coils to prevent accidental unwinding thereof, and a support whereby said restraining member is-heldin of thread and the like, a support whereby yielding contact with the coils, said support including a pivot-ally mounted connecting member and a pivot whereby said connecting member is secured to said restraining member, the axes of the pivots being at an angle to the axes of the coils, so as to allow the latter to drop by gravity in response to the operation of unwinding the coils.

fl. In a device for yieldingly holding coils 7 5 the body of thread is held in an upright position, an upright restraining member having an elongated thread engaging friction face adapted to yieldingly engage the coils to prevent them from dropping by gravity, and means whereby the thread-engaging portion of said restraining member is retained in parallelism with the axis of the coils, said means including a connecting member pivoted to said support and also to said restraining member, the axes of the pivots being parallel with each other and at a right angle to the axis of the coils, and said pivots being in different vertical planes so as to allow said restraining member to drop by gravity in response to the operation of unwinding the coils.

5. A device for preventing accidental unwinding of coils of thread and the like, comprising an attaching means for supporting said thread, a thread-engaging member, and means pivoted at one end of said attaching means at apoint at one side of the axis of the coils and pivoted at its other end to the thread-engaging member.

6. A device for preventing accidental unwinding of coils of thread and the like, com- 7 prising an attaching means for supporting the thread and thread-engaging means pivoted to said attaching means at a point to 105 one side of the coil axis and frictionally engaging said coils, said latter means comprising a bar slotted to provide a guideway and a connecting member in said guideway.

7. In a device for yieldingly holding coils of thread and the like, means for holdinga body of coiled thread in a substantially upright position, a restraining member having a substantially upright elongated thread engaging friction face adapted to engage the coils to prevent them from dropping by gravity, and means whereby saidsubstantially upright friction face is retained in parallelism with the outer face of the substantially upright body of thread, the last mentioned means including a supporting member allowing said restraining member to simultaneously move transversely of the coils and toward the-axis of the coils. V V

8. In a device for yieldingly holding coils of thread and the like, means for holding a body of coiled thread in'a substantially upright position, a restraining member having a substantially upright elongated thread engaging frictlon' face adapted to engage the coils to prevent them from dropping by gravity, and means whereby said substantially upright friction face is retained in parallelism With the outer face of the substantially upright body of thread, the last mentioned means including a pivotal support allowing said restraining member to simultaneously move transversely of the coils and toward the axis of the coils, the axis of said pivotal support being at an an- 10 gle to the axis of the coils.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I hereunto aflix my si ature.

THOMAS J. LINEBAGK. 

